A lot of trainers will tell you that humanization of our dogs is the biggest problem we face today.
I call BS. I think using human psychology on our dogs is the problem.
If we humanized them all the way to a place where they truly were our CHILDREN (rather than an accessory, a personal brand statement, a toy, or an emotional dumping ground), I think we might be better off.
Let me explain.. GOOD PARENTS do things like - control their children’s diet, screen time, sleep schedule, schooling, athletic schedule, social schedule, hobbies, and set expectations and rules regarding how their kids behave during all of those events.
Good parents also control their anger and frustration- teaching their kids what’s expected and consistently following through on those expectations in a kind and fair way.
Good parents create balanced and disciplined kids who get rewarded for following the rules and achieving within the framework provided.
If we simply do the same thing with our dogs (through the eyes of dog psychology), then we’d have a world full of happy dogs!
So why do we aim to parent our children one way and our dogs a completely different way?
Our LACK of humanizing our dogs (alllll the way to our children’s level) is causing more anxiety, fear, insecurity, uncertainty, nervousness, lack of self-confidence/purpose, and aggression than we’ve ever seen before.
Our dog’s need a tour guide, body guard, and translator for the human world. It’s our job to take on those roles!
It breaks my heart that the dog behavior industry has blown up the way it has. This tells me there are a lot of dogs suffering. And it needs to stop. Human education is the only solution.
And to everyone reaching out because you know you need to learn and do better - we love you! And we will be creating more educational content to help as many of you as possible!
Our challenge for you today is to think about how you’d parent your own kids or how you wish others would parent their kids and find ways to step up and be a better parent for your dog! ❤️
